Rannoch Moor to Corrour, a winter walk in Scotland

Sunrise in the Highlands

Breakfast at sunrise

A classic walk across some of the most easily accessible but wild terrain in the SW Highlands of Scotland.  Accessible as there is a train station in the middle of nowhere, however the wilderness is not to be underestimated.

Snowy trees and cold weather giving it an Alpine feel

Arriving at Rannoch Station in the dark at around 9pm I proceeded to head down the road and estate tracks towards the spot I had chosen to bivi for the night, Sròn Leachd a' Chaorainn.  The forecast for the evening was clear skies and no wind, perfect for an opportunity to spend a night under the stars.  As I left the Corrour Estate tracks I trail broke through powdery snow up the hill.  In the distance was what looked like a rather strange silvery white cloud, I later discovered I had seen the Aurora Borealis for the first time.  After a couple of hours plodding uphill I found a pleasant flat spot to sleep for the evening and tucked myself in, in relative luxury as I had brought my foam mat and thermarest for the evening!

Half asleep but happy as I woke up in my bivi spot!

Looking across to Blackwater Reservoir and the Munros beyond

By 7am it was beginning to get light and I could see the mountains all around me, the sunrise at around 8:30 was spectacular, gorgeous alpenglow, the odd cloud in the sky adding to the atmosphere, and I couldn't wait to get going.  Two sachets of porridge and a coffee later, I was on my way.

The summit of Càrn Dearg

If you like false summits, the ridge North to Càrn Dearg (Red Cairn according to Google translate, and with an 'a' instead of 'à' it's red car!), is the walk for you.  An eternity of undulations, breaking trail the entire way ensued.  Finally I reached the Munro and then had the pleasure of seeing some tracks from yesterday leading to Sgòr Gaibhre.  A pleasant stroll over compressed snow and grass brought me to the second Munro and the clouds drew in too.  A feeble attempt at snowing was made, with a light breeze and some fog.  However it was still clear with the sun powering through the clouds at times to leave an eerie wintery look.

Incredible sunny views to the South, you could see across the Southern Highlands perfectly

Attempting to snow, there were dark grey clouds to the west of me, but it remained quite pleasant all day

Continuing to Sgòr Choinnich, I met some other folk and I couldn't quite believe it!  They were doing pretty much the same journey as me but in the opposite direction.  Navigating over the knoll of Meall Nathach Mòr and NW took me over heathery ground towards the Lodge.  A vague quad bike track appeared at times between the snow and vegetation, and a rather exciting river crossing lower down at the new Hydro site took me to the woods.

Below the clouds looking across to Corrour Lodge and Loch Ossian

Crossing at the hydro scheme, you can just make out the wire to hold onto above the concrete!

Another 6km along the edge of Loch Ossian took me to Corrour Station.  It's amazing that this has been operating since 1894.  The Corrour Estate website is worth a read if you're interested in what the current owners are doing environmentally and it certainly seems like they are taking a more forward thinking approach to managing their land.

Corrour Station, in the middle of nowhere! At least there is a shelter to wait in

The station sign at Corrour, just in case you weren't sure you had arrived in the middle of nowhere!

All I can say, is, I will be returning with my skis when there is a base of snow, and to explore Rannoch Moor and the surrounding hills some more.

A frozen Loch Ossian

Fastpacking around the Lledr Valley

Sunrise at my wild camping spot

My two day route over the Moelwyns

What is Fastpacking?

Essentially, backpacking… quickly!  Packing the bare essentials to survive for the number of days you are out, and moving efficiently, either walking / jogging or running.  

All the kit I packed / wore

I packed with the intention of covering around 25-40km a day for two days, walking and wild camping overnight in relative comfort.  This meant packing enough warm clothes to keep moving, but if I got too cold or the weather turned horrific, I would accept having to move faster to generate more heat, change course or put my tent up.  My first aid kit was essentially zinc oxide tape and a wound dressing.  In case of an emergency I also had shelter, my poles, phone and power pack, and I was never going to be more than 6km or so from a road or building.

Bog and views across to the Snowdon Horseshoe

The Moelwyns are one of those areas in Snowdonia that around renowned for being boggy, tussocky, hard to navigate through and bereft of visitors.  My route started in Betws Y Coed, travelled along the North and Western side of the Lledr over as many summits as possible, crossed at the top of the Crimea Pass, and returned via the Southern and Eastern side.  As is usual for most of my solo adventures I had a vague route with plenty of alternative ideas!

The view from my last summit of Day 1, Moelwyn Mawr

Day 1, 36.71km, 2255m, 10hrs

A leisurely departure at 11:15am after quite a lot of faff packing.  Today the weather forecast looked good and so despite my later start I knew I could walk until near darkness.  Beginning by following the pathways along the Lledr was beautiful, sunlight shining through the trees, perfectly dry forest tracks and few people.  At Dolwyddelan it is a steady climb until the Ddear Ddu ridge of Moel Siabod.  Pleasant easy scrambling brought me to the high point of my route and from here I undulated along the tops southwards until Cnicht.  I met four people along the way, one of whom I knew which was rather suprising, especially on some random sheep trod in the middle of tussocky nowhere!

Sunset at camp

From Cnicht I had enough daylight to bag one more top, Moelwyn Mawr, before heading North to camp at Llyn Conglog.  I didn’t meet anyone else until lunchtime the following day!

The weather starting to change.  Moel Siabod is in the clouds in the top left of this picture

Day 2, 25.11km, 942m, 7hrs

Walking over one of many summits

An earlier start at 7:15, to make some headway before the rain and fog set in for the day - this didn’t take long.  Plus, it’s always awesome to take in the sunrise when you’re wild camping.  Leaving camp was pleasant, following sheep trods and vague paths over Allt-Fawr and along to Moel Dyrnogydd.  In between the clouds I had amazing views of my route the previous day.  Here, some of the fun stopped.  The descent to the Crimea Pass was essentially steep grassy sheep poo filled tussocks!  The only stile I could find on the other side of the A470 was at the car park, which I thought meant that there would be a path to Moel Farlwyd - the hill on the other side.  How wrong I was!

The Crimea Pass on the A470, and the mountains beyond on the left that I would travel over on Day 2

More sheep poo, rain, fog, tussocks and bog awaited me… and not a trod in sight.  Finally, after an age, I made it to the top.  Heading around to Moel Penamnen was no different; at least by now I had accepted my fate!  Once there though, a path like feature appeared and I had the pleasure of linking up vague paths through thick fog for the next few hours, navigating across the featureless moorland.  

Happy to have finally found a sheep trod to follow, even in the rain

At Y Ro Wen I received some respite, a summit shelter to eat in incredible double track to lead me down to Bwlch Y Groes.  Enjoying walking on a path I then decided to follow the cycleway east onto the forestry tracks to complete my circuit.  Oops.  Despite the recent dry weather the route was still filled with the most horrific knee plus deep muddy bike ruts.  Once committed it was almost as bad to carry on as it was to return and bog bash further north to a right of way that I wasn’t entirely sure existed!  After an age I walked onto drier terrain and had a long plod through the Gwydir Forest.

The track down from the summit of Y Ro Wen

Muddy trails at Bwlch Y Groes

September in Scotland

Wild camping in Fisherfield, what a view

This September Jim and I went on our annual trip to Scotland seeking classic mountain walks, adventures and good cake.

Our first view of the Fisherfield Munros

Our first stop was Kinlochleven where the Salomon Skyrunning weekend of races would be taking place.  Having previously raced and marshalled on the event, this year we would be spectating and using it as an excuse to get out into the hills, catch up with good friends and feel psyched to get fitter and faster.

On the way up Bidean Nan Bian to cheer the Salomon Skyline racers

By the end of the weekend it was time for us to seek our own solitude in the mountains and with a reasonable forecast we continued to head North towards Torridon and Fisherfield.

We even saw some sun in Kinlochewe!

One of our aims for this holiday was to try out Jim's new Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 2 tent (phew, a bit of a mouthful!), and spend some days exploring and wild camping in the Fisherfield, weather permitting.  Having arrived in Kinlochewe we decided to walk from there towards Lochan Fada via Gleann Bianasdail.

Walking alongside Loch Maree, Slioch in the background

A couple of hours later we had passed Slioch and were rewarded with our first views of the Fisherfield wilderness.  I was more than a little bit excited having owned an OS map to the area for nine years but never having been there.  

Filtering water on the walk in

Crossing a river in the Fisherfield wilderness

The beach by Lochan Fada made a beautiful lunch spot and from here we found a great little path that took us all the way up to Bealach Odhar following this small gorgelike stream of Allt na Creige Glaise.  Rather than drop down the other side to the tiny pool we set up camp here having found a water source and a flattish piece of ground.

Jim surveying his new Hyperlite Mountain Gear Ultamid 2 tent pitched where it's designed to be, in the wild

As the weather predicted, all good things come to an end and having watched it cloud over the evening before we awoke to rain and light winds.  Erring on the side of caution we changed our plan. This area of Scotland commits you to at least one river crossing even in dry weather spells and the prospect of getting out after a couple of rainy days wasn't appealing.

On Beinn Tarsuinn in the mizzle (misty drizzle)

Not wanting to leave without bagging at least one Munro, we headed for Beinn Tarsuinn.  It was short blast up following a vague path that seemed to regularly disappear.  From here we followed our journey back down the the col and out to Lochan Fada.

We completed our journey in Dynafit trail running shoes, fast and light!

To add more interest to our journey we headed out along Gleann na Muice along fabulous singletrack and 4x4 tracks to Kinlochewe.  (one to return on by mountain bike when I'm a bit more skilled)

The Whistle Stop Cafe in Kinlochewe is a must for food and drink and we refuelled here before heading south to the Cairngorms in search of better weather.

Scots Pine trees in the Cairngorms

Unfortunately for us the weather remained variable.  I completed an ambition to run the Cairngorm 4000ers but in 50mph winds and heavy rain, which was resilience building (needless to say I don't have any photos).  And we both went on some local walks in the forest to various cafes.

Walking in Glenmore avoiding the 60mph winds in the mountains

Our last stop in Aviemore before heading home was to Backcountry Scotland.  This was a chance to say a big thank you to someone for having the nerve to import such unique and incredible equipment from around the world; most notably our Hyperlite Mountain Gear Tent (handmade in Maine, USA), but also an opportunity to chat gear, expeditions, and look at the best packrafts and bike packing kit on the market.  Needless to say we were both rather excited.

Winning at life on holiday

All too soon it was time to return home having had some adventures but more importantly psyched for many more in the future.